kabuto wrote: can somebody study and listen to the music at the same time??i know this may sound silly, but can our brain cope with this?

Some people could do that thing and they are actually said to be *global* thinkers since the right side of their brain is more dominant than their left. Left or analytical thinkers mostly can't cope with that kind of practice since they want to achieve focus or concentration when they study. Other similar related things being a global thinker is when you listen to a music, you focus more of the rhythm and sound instead of the lyrics, left thinkers focus on the message. You are also a global thinker if you can study in any place, any position and in any light condition. The left and right hemispheres of our brain usually communicate with one another through the corpus callosum. However it's not usually the case since either the two of them dominates the other.

It was believed that schools must be able to identify the interests of the students since everyone is so much unique and distinct from one another. The teacher must be able to identify those interests since it affects the learning process. Now, if your left and right are able to work in harmony, they say that you had already achieved a state of maturity in your three domains of learning. Read also of Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences and that may also help in giving information why some can do things beyond others.

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mcar wrote:Some people could do that thing and they are actually said to be *global* thinkers since the right side of their brain is more dominant than their left. Left or analytical thinkers mostly can't cope with that kind of practice since they want to achieve focus or concentration when they study. Other similar related things being a global thinker is when you listen to a music, you focus more of the rhythm and sound instead of the lyrics, left thinkers focus on the message. You are also a global thinker if you can study in any place, any position and in any light condition. The left and right hemispheres of our brain usually communicate with one another through the corpus callosum. However it's not usually the case since either the two of them dominates the other.

mcar, that kind of thinking about neurobiology is obsolete. yes, one hemisphere is "dominant" in the sense of that is where the Broca area develops there, but anything that may be defined as "thinking" is clearly the result of the entire brain. The division of functions between the two hemispheres is basically people misinterpreting brain scans a while back..

"As a biologist, I firmly believe that when you're dead, you're dead. Except for what you live behind in history. That's the only afterlife" - J. Craig Venter

Bio-Hazard wrote:Music will interfere with the subvocalization (the voice in your head that speaks while you read this) of the mind; therefore, being able to think clearly will be limited. With limited and tampered thinking ability, one can not study efficiently when listening to music.The next time you are thinking about something, bite your tongue lightly and hold it. You may notice your subvocalization going away quickly or stuttering.

Interesting..I agree because I can't study while listening music..especially vocals..calm instrumental,background music has less success in distracting my attentionI read somewhere that students who memorized while listening music sometimes need to hear the same music in order to retrieve text.

Every man is a star whose light can make shadows dance differently and change our view of landscape permanently***

MOSTLY IT DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF MUSIC YOU ARE LISTENING TO,SOFT NON SYNCOPATED MUSIC RELY WORKS FOR ME,ESPECIALLY WHEN AM LISTENING TO THE SAME SONG.THE SAME SONG REDUCES YOUR CONCENTRATION ON MUSIC AND MAKES YOU CONCENTRATE MORE ON WHAT YOU ARE STUDYING.MOREOVER STUDYING WITH SOFT MUSIC ALSO REDUCES THE PROBABILITY OF BEING DISTURBED BY OUTSIDE FACTORS SUCH AS PEOPLE PASSING,ROOM MATES NOISE ETC.

It is certainly an interesting of discussion within Ethnomusicology. Personally, I like having music on, only background. Though sometimes I will put on music that 'relates' to a piece of work I am writing. Others, need almost complete silence. For ethnomusicologists, it questions our definitions and perceptions to what music is and its social functions.

As someone pointed out earlier, the mozart effect is an interesting area of research.